Learning & Ethology Flashcards
John Watson
Behaviorism. Experiment w fear conditioning in Little Albert.
Edward Thorndike
Functionalist. Study on animals led to law of effect (the basis for operant conditioning)
Clark Halls theory of motivation or drive reduction theory
The goal of behavior is to reduce biological drives- reinforcement occurs when a biological drive is reduced
Konrad Lorenz
First ethnologist. Study animals in their natural environment, rather than in the laboratory
Second- order conditioning
A neutral stimulus is paired w CS rather than an UCS to elicit a conditioned response
Sensory preconditioning
Two neutral stimuli are paired together, and then one of the neutral stimuli is paired w an UCS. The other stimulus w also elicit the response
Contiguity
CS and UCS are contiguous (near) in time
Contingency
CS is a good signal for UCS
Blocking
CS is a good signal for UCS AND provides non-redundant info about the occurrence of the UCS. Rats-hiss experiment
Negative reinforcement
Increases prob of behavior. Includes escape and avoidance. Different than punishment which decreases prob of behavior
Discriminative stimulus
A necessary stimulus to receive reward following desired behavior. I.e pigeon only gets food if pecks a key when the light is on
Generalization
When org learns to generalize to similar stimuli (pigeon will peck not only to green light, but also yellow light)
Schedules of reinforcement
Fixed ratio- paid every 1000 envelopes
Variable ratio- slot machine
Fixed interval- paid weekly
Variable interval- parent responding to crying child
*VR is the hardest to extinguish & produces the most rapid response rate
Shaping (differential reinforcement)
To train behaviors that aren’t likely to occur naturally on their own (dog fetching slippers) so u reinforce successive approximations to the desired behavior
Behavior therapies based on classical conditioning
Often used to treat phobias or undesired behaviors (I.e alcoholism)
Flooding
Forcing the client to directly experience the feared object (the CS)
Implosion
Forcing the client to imagine the feared object (CS)
Systematic desensitization
Forcing the client to imagine the feared object (CS) while trying to ensure that the client stays relaxed by using deep relaxation and an anxiety hierarchy
Conditioned aversion
Pairing a desired CS with an aversive UCS
Therapies based on operant conditioning
Attempt to alter the consequences of the client’s behavior. Change behavior by changing the reinforcement contingency
Contingency management
A general name for therapies that attempt to change the client’s behavior by altering the consequences of the behavior
Behavioral contract
A written agreement that explicitly states the consequences of certain acts; useful in resolving interpersonal conflicts
Time-out
Removing the client from the potentially reinforcing situation before he can receive reinforcement for the undesired behavior
Premack principle
Using a more preferred activity to reinforce a less preferred activity
Problem solving. Thorndike (behaviorist)
Problem solving due to trial-and-error learning. Cats in puzzle box
Kohler. Gestalt
Problem solving is insightful
Cognitive maps (Tolman)
Animals have mental maps of physical spaces
Observational learning (Bandura). Vicarious reinforcement
Observing others behavior can affect your own behavior
Preparedness (Garcia). Biological constraints
Animals are prepared to learn connections btw certain stimuli. Sweet water/ bright loud noise water paired w either electrical shock or nausea. Rats were only conditioned for sweet water/ nausea & bright loud water & shock
Instinctual drift (the Brelands)
Instinctual ways of behaving are able to override behaviors learned through operant conditioning
Niko Tinbergen
Ethologist who introduced experimental methods into the field, enabling the construction if controlled conditions outside of a laboratory
Fixed action pattern (FAP)
A stereotyped behavior sequence that does not have to be learned by the animal. More complex than an UR (I.e rolling an egg back to a nest vs. an eye blink)
Sign stimuli
Features of a stimulus sufficient to bring about a particular FAP.
Releaser- a sign stimulus that triggers social behaviors btw animals (I.e red bellys and aggression during mating season in male sticklebacks)
Supernormal stimulus- a model more effective at triggering a FAP than the actual sign stimulus found in nature
Innate releasing mechanism
A mechanism in the animals nervous system that connects sign stimuli with the correct FAPs
Reproductive isolating mechanism
Behaviors that prevent animals of one species from attempting to mate w animals of a closely related species. Provide a way of identifying others if it’s own species. Found only in locations where closely related species share the same environment
Reproductive fitness
Takes into account the number of offspring that live to be old enough to reproduce. Altruism is problematic
Inclusive fitness
Takes into account the number of offspring that live to be old enough to reproduce and the number of other relatives who live to reproductive age. Altruism is not problematic
E.O Wilson
Associated w sociobiology
Zipf’s law
Inverse relationship btw length of a word & how often it’s used
